Quick TIps | Creating a professional Portfolio for Illustration and Concept Art

Some advice here is good within certain parameters, but at the same time this exposes a few ridiculous realities that are more a result of artists being slave-like pussies rather than creative and ballsy individuals.

One’s ability to grasp and apply the fundamentals with consistency ought to be enough. This logic that one ought to be dickriding Wizards of the Coast or Blizzard doesn’t do good to anyone but these companies, because this guarantees them they are getting imbeciles that want to be slaves for them rather than professionals to do work for them.

As a result these artists don’t develop their individuality, especially within the company, are more dependent on working for their chosen company because what are they gonna do if they are fired, and lastly all they can do when they are 100% the same as anyone else within the company is be good yes-men kissing the boss’s ass hoping that will get the raise or promotion instead of the skills.

Think about it. How often do you see Blizzard posting they need entry level artists? It’s always mid or senior artists and art directors. Are we supposed to believe they have no one willing to take up the job who is also in the company, knows the ropes, the style and the people? Of course not, but how can anyone trust to one of their internal staff a job of this type when they are all indiscernible?

This corporatist logic applied to the very last has also resulted in all games and movies looking the same, because you no longer have artists who are individuals looking to work as professionals with their own voice, but fans of products who want to slave over them and create fan fiction.

So, despite the advise being solid, I think it’s high time younger artists take different advice.

Never knew artstation was a thing.

How can we tailor our work for certain companies if we present our portfolio on ArtStation that’s being shared to multiple companies when applying to jobs?

How would you present your portfolio when applying to multiple companies with different styles? For example Blizzard vs Wizards of the Coast – there's definitely overlap, but not really sure if I should create new art that is tailored to one or the other – or do a blend of sorts.

5:43 Again, poor advice. If your clients are visually savvy art directors, they want to see your thought process. Because you will be sending thumbnails for approval prior to executing a piece.

4:33 This is not great advice. Highly questionable you have even dealt with recruiters or staff at Blizzard to even say this. Reality is, Blizzard wants SUBJECT matter related to their game. Orcs and Space Marines in your portfolio. When you see their cinematics at Blizzard, it is PHOTOREAL! !!! If someone sees you like the subject matter, and have applied, they will take it from there. Your portfolio is not dismissed based on cartoon or photoreal when it comes to Blizzard.

Do you want to do illustration work for children's books? 😉

Which art school did you go to?

Would traditional artists who apply into the industry be lower than someone who is digital?

Hey, thank you so much for those advices ! I haven't find my own style yet, so I've a little question : What shoult I put in my portfolio if I don't target any special company ? I mean, if I like to draw many styles, and I don't realy care if a company wants me to draw this or this style. Should I show everything, should I group artworks by style, should I show each style on a different plateform, or should I just put the most popular style ? ^^

Great video, Dave!

Hi Dave. Thanks for your tutorials. I get a lot out of them. A Question about Artstation. Do you recommend having multiple pieces under one image or just a single image for each at the top level (so nothing is hidden or has to be drilled down into)? Thanks.

Yo so like, I understand being "good enough" is just poor mentality, but realistically a better question would be "am I fast enough?"
Cause Ive only been drawing for about a year and i can probably clean some stuff up. Ive only been drawing and i dont know how to render quite just yet, but if i were to make a finished art piece id probably take a few days to even render out a character design hmmm…

COOL

This video made me finally post my first piece to my artstation account. Thank you Dave!

Hey Dave, would you include more design breakdowns in your portfolio that you send to studios? On your Artstation profile I see a lot of flashy nice stuff, but not so much of the exploration stuff like silhouettes, sketches, variations and so on. Thank you for the videos!

wooooh love this, i was just thinking about making one thanks dave <3

-ironjwolf

thank you Dave! I've recently discovered you through your artstation portfolio and now I'm a big fan of your art. I'd love to hear more from you about the market and working for big companies…
thanks a lot once again and I love your art and style! Best regards

Thanks!!!